Automated airport baggage distribution systems can be used for distribution of airport baggage between an airport terminal and one or more areas, possibly close to where aircrafts take off and land. Often, the baggage is checked in at an airport baggage counter in the terminal and distributed by the automated airport baggage distribution system from the terminal to a position where baggage for the same destination can be collected and transported to an aircraft at a gate of the airport.
Often, airports have more than one terminal, e.g. an old and a new or a domestic and an international or comprise 5-15 or more terminals. Such terminals, each with their gates, are often spread across several thousands of square meters.
Distribution of airport baggage between a terminal and a gate at that terminal, or between terminals, or from an aircraft and to a baggage claim carousel at a terminal, often needs to be carried out over distance of several hundreds of meters, or even 5-10 kilometers, within a short period of time, such as e.g. 10-30-45 minutes.
Thus, the distribution of baggage is often provided at elevated speeds, such as 1-10 m/s or 2-10 m/s, in order to distribute the baggage within a short period of time. In order to assure a hassle free distribution of various types of baggage at such speeds, the baggage is often positioned in dedicated transport units, often referred to as totes.
Such automated airport baggage distribution systems often comprise a number of consecutive belt conveyor sections capable of running independently and placed in a part of the distribution system, e.g. between check-in stations and a baggage destination. At the baggage destination, the piece of baggage is to be discharged from the automated airport baggage distribution system.
Typically, new, as well as existing, systems experience disadvantages related to their capacity, cost and/or a transit time and/or a transport period for a piece of baggage. In particular, for new and existing solutions, improving one of these factors often has a too high and non-beneficial impact on one or more of the other factors.
Thus, it has been appreciated that an improved method of and system for distributing airport baggage, in airport baggage totes, in an automated baggage distribution system in an airport, is of benefit, and in consequence the present invention has been devised.